Wheeling, W. Va. – After running at the Muskingum Invitational a week ago, the Wheeling University Men's Cross Country team was back on the race course Saturday at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational. They would compete in a field that included teams form NCAA DII and NCAA DIII as they ran in their final tune-up before the 2026 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Cross Country Championships. Wheeling would compete against four teams from across the MEC, and had one runner finish in the top 200 of the event.

Leading the effort once again for the Cardinals was Redick Moore, who would be the one to crack the top 200, would take 197^th in the field, running a time of 29:47.0. It was a new PR for the sophomore, who knocked 12 seconds off his previous 8K PR. He would finish 50^th among his MEC competitions, as he continues to prepare for the conference championship event. He has been the Cardinal's top runner throughout the season, and is working on the mental side of his game with Distance Coach Chase Stewart and he took the first step towards that at Carnegie Mellon.

The Cross Country team was once again helped out by the Track & Field team, with four runners from Track rounding out the field. Taven Mayo would lead the group, finishing 228^th with a time of 34:17.4 in what would be his first career Cross Country run. Jaysen Bell would run his second race of his career, taking 232^nd with a time of 39:16.0, while Daelyn Harris followed him up in 233^rd with a time of 42:23.5. Rounding out the field was Izaiah Taylor, who took 234^th with a time of 43:39.7 to round out the day.

The Wheeling University Men's Cross Country team returns to action on Saturday, November 7, when they run at the 2026 MEC Men's Cross Country Championship.